Sport and Media have been joined at hip since Ted Turner incorporated both his sport franchise (Atlanta Braves) and his media corporation (WTBS). Since this collaboration Sport and media have been linked in many different ways. As an inspiring Sport Manager, when I looked at what I have learned from this course it makes me think sports and how media has changed the industry. My first example would be how media allows sport to flourish and exist. As many know, sport cannot be seen by everyone without TV deals and radio broadcasts. This is where media comes in, they become the entity that is responsible for exposing the sport to the public. As Ted Turner learned, the public is very interested in sport, and they want to see it 24/7. He incorporated sports highlights into the evening news and people became obsessed. This led to the beginning of sports only based media corporations that have led to todays mega corporations like ESPN and TSN. Sport cannot survive without media as the hundred million dollar TV deals that keep leagues afloat would certainly disappear leaving leagues in limbo for future seasons. Media Corporations are also becoming the owners of some sport franchises which makes it even more important to have media involved in sport.

Media can play a positive and negative effect for sport. Some athletes have gotten into some legal issues that allowed the media to portray them in a negative light. That being said, the media has also painted athletes in a positive light, showing that not all athlete are alike. The media plays a huge role in the character painting of athletes as they hold all the power to hinder or benefit the athlete. Take Richie Incognito, of the Miami Dolphins. His story was front page news for weeks, as his bullying of a teammate became headline news in the sports industry. Not once did I hear anything about the validity or creditability of the sources, all you heard was how bad this guy is and what a disgrace athletes have become. Now it is understandable that a guy making millions of dollars to play a game some would do for free should be held accountable, but in todays media world, false stories come out and nobody thinks to look into them. As it turns out, Incognito was not the only one involved, he is just taking the brunt of the backlash as his friendship with the teammate that was bullied is now public record. The two seemed like friends until the locker room environment became too much and the media placed blame on the bad reputation of Incognito. The media simply jumped to conclusions before the whole truth came out. Todays media coverage is so intense and so lucrative, people will make up facts or stories just to be the first to report a new story or fact of a story. Sometimes the media actually gets it real. As in the case with Dwayne Wade and Danica Patrick, their stories gave a better understanding of who they are to the public. Wade, a 3-time NBA champion is also a single father raising three young children. His role as a father has been questioned due to his job and fame. Rightfully so he is away for games a lot, but that does not change the fact he is playing the role of two parents while being a top tier professional athlete. Danica Patrick is a trailblazer as she showed the media and the rest of the world women can drive cars too! Her ability to drive with top ranked professionals and keep up showed women across the globe they can compete with men in the sports world. The media has the ability to alter peoples perceptions with the blink of an eye, it todays society, media can be a life changer!

The last aspect of media and sport I learned from this course is how the industry of sport has been altered forever by the media. The Olympic Games have become the mecca of sports, the media has allowed this transition because they stand to benefit greatly from it. 25 years ago paying hundreds of millions of dollars for a two week exclusivity would have seen outrageous! Now it is common to see that type of price tag on sporting events. The popularity of sports has grown due in large part to the media making the industry more accessible and available to more people. Speciality channels and packages allow fans to watch 5 games at once and watch games half way across the world, live!

The media holds all the power as they hold the distribution and production of most major sports, thus making them one of the most powerful groups in society today. As the athletes make the millions, the media corporations and those involved will make the billions!

Since taking COMM 2F00 my use of social media has increased largely because this course showed me how media can connect people who otherwise wouldn’t without media. As an avid sports fan I used twitter a lot to follow my favorite athletes and get the inside scoop on whats going on in the sports industry. That being said, I do not believe this course has made me more of a produser than the high level consumer I currently am. I have multiple applications that allow me to connect and interact with sports fans around the globe, however I mostly sit back from a distance and analysis what others are saying and not give my two cents. I figure this is mostly because of my laid back approach to life and not wanting others to criticize my opinions. I feel like my opinions are taken lightly as being from Canada many believe all we know is maple syrup and Hockey. As an inspiring Sport Manager I feel Canada does not get the respect it deserves in the Sports Industry. Many times I have seen on social media people attacking others because of their background and what they believe in. If there is one drawback from the explosion of social media it is that people can hide behind a computer or smartphone and say what they want without any repercussions. I am totally for the free speech aspect of society, however when the use of social media and other forms of media are used to bring people down or hurt them it becomes only something to hide behind.

Media has allowed people to connect in ways nobody thought possible. But when people take advantage of that is becomes another way to bully people. Some people like to post thousands of pictures of themselves having a photo shoot at home, playing with friends, etc but others just like to find these people and make fun of them. This aspect of social media has hindering the growth of people who are shy and do not like to have their thoughts or opinions shot down, I feel this contributes to some people being consumers and some being produsers.

My first experience with mass social media attention was when the Miami Dolphins of the NFL had their bullying scandal. It was front page news in every sports paper and yet from the beginning the media picked one angle and ran with it. No need to dig deeper, they had the story and angle that would make them number one. Nobody considered all the noise and chaos surrounding the team and it was evident in the teams play. From the day the story broke, every sports analyst had their opinion, some posted very rude and unprofessional comments which were removed seconds are posting. This shows that even though people can post freely, if they have a boss or supervisor, their comments cannot be rude or bring people down, as it reflects on the organization as a whole. Social Media is the best example of how connected the world has become and yet it has made what we post and what we post about even more important as one simple click of the button can change a life forever. Limitations are what hold you back, or for others what keeps them in place and allows them to flourish, for me it’s a combo of both!

For my Storify I chose to detail the story of professional athletes and how the vast majority of them make too much money and do not know how to manage their money. Some donate thousands even millions to charities that benefit more from that money then the athlete will ever. What is another million to Tiger Woods or LeBron James? There are those athletes who feel the need to buy luxurious toys that 95% of the world cannot afford and then come begging years after retirement because they spent all their money and lost it in bad business deals. As I have grown up in the commercialization of sport I have seen my fair share of players who become “busts” and are being paid more than any brain surgeon in the world. Athletes make too much money plain and simple, with more and more receiving $100 million dollar contracts it seems like this never ending cycle of athlete bankruptcy may end unless this new generation of athletes can find ways to burn through $100 million before the age of 50.

Social Media has changed the way people can interact with complete strangers who may only have on specific thing in common that brought them together. Social media for me has allowed me to connect to my favorite athletes as well as discuss and argue sports news/topics will fellow sports enthusiasts. The simplicity of social media has allowed it to develop so many new platforms for people to let their opinions be heard when they otherwise would never speak up. Although there are some cases of harassment and threats made over social media, the benefits from the easy access (simple wifi connection or internet connection) allows people to freely communicate with people around the world who share a common interest. People in the sports industry have created careers based off a simple social media blog that became very popular and allowed for this individual to gain exposure which in turn got them their new career. For a sports fan, getting Twitter was probably the biggest game-changer in terms of knowledge and information since the ticker on the bottom of the TV screen on sports channels. Every ten seconds depending on the people you follow a new bit of information is sent out to the world readily available to almost anyone. For sports fans, during free agency or trade deadlines this may be your one stop shop to find out all the breaking news. Sports analysts give you all the same information as they would on TV without the annoying commercials they need to run to stay in the green. Social Media has changed my life.

For me, these new opportunities are something a sports fan like myself always wanted. To be able to connect to your favorite player and communicate with them on a 1 to 1 basis (even if its through 140 characters or less) and get to understand who they are as person via pictures and their posts it creates a sense of connection that all sports fans have. Having so many different avenues to connect and communicate with other sports fan I definitely take advantage of this emergence. I find Twitter is best social media platform for people to voice their opinions and feelings as it readily available to anyone and people can add or delete people as they chose. Plus with the simple use of a # you can connect with people all over the world who share the same interest. I do voice my opinion on sports issues like performance enhancing drugs, fighting in hockey, pros/cons of the Olympics as being a sports fan since I can remember, I always have an opinion on sports. Just because I do not voice my opinion on other social issues in our society today does not mean I do not have an opinion. I just feel some opinions are better worth voicing as we live in a different society today and something you see as appropriate or okay might be the complete opposite for someone on the other side of the world.

After trying out 8tracks.com and soundcloud.com I still find it hard to not just simply download the song I want and listen to it. Yes both websites offer a similar version but do I really want to sign up for a website just to listen to music when I can get the same song in 5 clicks or less? That is what is wrong with our society today, everyone wants it quicker, easier and faster without thinking about who is getting the short end of the stick. Although these sites are great avenues to help prevent piracy, the fact is without taking this course I would have never even known they existed. The accessibility to the sites is great, but the exposure is what is lacking and may be the sticking point for the sites feasibility. These sites should partner up with artists and use social media as an avenue to create exposure. Fans browsing their favorite bands social media sites will see this partnership and can potentially become the next user just because of their bands loyalty and partnership with these sites.

The ability to stream a song from anywhere in the city definitely increases the artists exposure, but want about their income? Social Media allows artists to connect with their fans and share important information like tour dates, locations etc. Some even offer their music wants fans follow them. More followers on a hastag for an event might allow the host to generate more revenue and in turn put more money in the artists pockets. Social media has added an element to the music industry they were lacking, the only issue is whether or not this will be sustainable in terms of continuous support and successful events as we know, technology is rapidly changing, the music industry needs to account for this and change their way of doing business or else they wont have much business left to conduct.

In todays technological world, music is readily available to anyone who has a computer, internet connection and a downloading program. This puts serious tension on artists as their livelihood is now available for free versus paying $14.99 at HMV or elsewhere. For me personally, if I am going to listen to the CD or songs for a long period of time, I can justify buying the CD. However, if I like just one song on a CD of 15 or 20 songs, paying the $14.99 seems pointless to me. I am not the only one with this mindset. Ask a classroom of University students, a large percentage will say they download albums or songs to avoid paying for them especially when that money is needed for textbooks, food, clothing etc. Its understandable that artists and the industry are mad, their hard work is becoming free to almost anyone and they are losing out on millions of dollars. A change in the way consumers listen to and obtain music is needed or else the music industry will not be as profitable as it once was. Would Justin Bieber or Katy Perry or Jay-Z be as wealthy without the sales of their CD’s?

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For the music industry to try to reduce piracy, a lot has to be done not only by them, but by governments as well. Allowing sites like thepiratebay.eu to operate and allow people to download music, movies or tv shows with no cost except for downloading a partnering software to download the files is what needs to be corrected. Yes the governments have been trying, but a simple arrest here and there is just a band-aid for the real issue. In todays technological world, I find it very hard for this to happen. Unless people start going to jail or pay very high fines for operating piracy websites, this trend will only continue. A 16 year old wants the newest hip hop CD, has no job or income, only way to get it is to download it illegally. Some kids that age do not know they are stealing and it would not be right to give them ridiculous fines, but instead creating an awareness program where it teaches the public and young adults ( main group responsible for piracy issue) that negatives of piracy and helps them find legal alternatives to obtaining their desires music. It seems like everyday a new downloading site emerges and creates another avenue for people to steal music from. A piracy panel could be put together to monitor high level piracy, which could reduce the amount of avenues people have to steal. In a world where technology is taking over, it will be very hard to implement and maintain a program that will ultimately eliminate piracy. As we have seen time and again, the economies of developing nation are in desperate need for resources to be sold to 1st world nations. As long as this market is continuously available, the piracy issue will continue to haunt the music industry. Government intervention seems to be the only way to go at this point, as the issue has become widespread and worldwide.

Upon signing up for GetGlue I checked in six times to various TV shows, Movies or Sports. Most of the stuff I Checked in was shows or movies I had already seen and was looking to see what others felt about some of my favorite programs. This being the first time I have ever heard of GetGlue I found it a little hard to use at first, like most sites you just have to play around for a bit and learn how the sit works and operates.

I found GetGlue to be very informative about shows that are trending and some that people might not know much about. Blue Mountain State was a show I watched back in high school and was unaware it was on Neflicks until I checked in to the BMS page and show a follow follower of the show had commented saying that it is available to stream. I found this very helpful as I usually just stream online or actually buy the movie or show I am wanting to watch so I can now watch whenever I choose. GetGlue also allows you to chat with people who like the same shows and allows for interaction between members, just like Facebook or Twitter.

I feel the Check In aspect of GetGlue is very crucial to their success as having more people connecting and chatting about the shows can help spread the word about GetGlue in order to increase member and usage. This is important because as far as I am concerned , not many people are aware of GetGlue and having free word of mouth marketing might be a great advantage for GetGlue versus their competitors.

GetGlue builds an online community based around Popular Culture by using aspects of popular culture that everyone can relate too. TV, Movies and Sports are watched by millions around the world daily and by tapping into this usage, GetGlue can form a website based off this extreme need and usage of popular culture aspects.

GetGlue offers its members reward stickers when they meet certain reward levels. Checking In for the first time gets you your first sticker. After this you have a certain level of check ins before attaining the next sticker. By offering a reward system, it helps drive up competition between users to see who has the most stickers, while at the same time encouraging and increasing member use. I agree that whiling being on GetGlue it engages you more with the community of the show, movie or sport you are checking into.

In this article, GetGlue an Viggle were both set to merge and become one big online popular culture media site. I found it to be rather odd as did the writer that such a new and unheard of company was going to purchase a larger and known company for a rather large price. The amount of users from each site was very different creating a confusion on why this merger was even happening? Both are similar companies that offer online communities rewards and other engagement solely based off TV shows, Movies and Sports. After reading more you discover Viggle’s financial situation is not so solid and might have been the reason for the attempted merger. Financing through debt may seem smart at the beginning, but as Viggle learned, it can be the ultimately end game for some companies.

GetGlue CEO Alex Iskold has a new adventure to embark on, Techstars NYC. Just like his own start-up company, GetGlue Techstars was looking for fresh face for its emerging business. Iskold has being an up-and-coming tycoon in the second-screen industry helping start up and advise many companies in this market. His main goal of helping those strive to entrepreneurial success is what I find most interesting about him. As he helps those around him get their feet wet in an industry he essentially created is great to see, as in other industries, the leading creator does not want his competition to get stronger for the fear of over taking him. This is where Iskold has separated himself by stepping down as CEO of GetGlue, it eliminates his conflict of interest with GetGlue but allows him to stay on (Board Member) to help aid GetGlue in times of need just like all the other start-up sites in the second-screen industry. I found this to be very humbling that a marketing leading executive can step down from a very lucrative position to help those start-ups weed through the market and skip over potential issues that he himself had with his own company. It is too bad that there are not more Alex Iskold types in business today, as 95% of the world’s money might not be control by the low 5% of the population allowing more a more diverse and positive world and work force.